


Family Matters (Violin Remix)

by GoblinMoon



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Family Bonding, Fix-It, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Brother Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Good Sister Allison Hargreeves, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, No Apocalypse AU, No Incest, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, and the obligatory umbrella academy warning, because I say so, eventual cha-cha redemption arc, i don't want to tag characters or relationships until they show up lol, implied/referenced neck injury, real gross that i have to specify that, should be the standard assumption but here we are, this fic is more lighthearted than the warnings imply, time for the obligatory 'klaus is in this fic' warnings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 22:14:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18375131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoblinMoon/pseuds/GoblinMoon
Summary: Luther was out-voted three to one. Even if he wanted to veto their decision, nothing brings siblings together like teaming up against their brother.In which Allison, Klaus, and Diego fight with a little more co-ordination to free Vanya, and the lack of an Apocalypse forces the siblings to bond.





	Family Matters (Violin Remix)

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: I'm an idiot and forgot to write "Chapter 1/?" this is not a oneshot asfbasdbgh

Something was wrong. Allison didn't know how she knew, just that she did. Though, the yelling from the basement _was_ a pretty good clue. 

She took a deep breath, the movement of her throat causing her new wounds to ache, and prepared to push herself into a sitting position.

She braced herself against the bed and closed her eyes in preparation. 

If she could have cried out she would have. The effort it took to push herself up was herculean. Her arms trembled frantically under her weight, and her eyes were wild and frantic. By the time she had pushed herself up she was out of breath and sitting hunched over, gasping silently.

Next came the hard part, standing. Followed by the even harder part, walking. She took another few breaths in preparation, to calm her pounding heart, and fought the urge to collapse back into the bed.

Carefully she turned, placing her feet on the ground. Then slowly, gently, she eased herself onto her feet.

Her world tilted. She threw out an arm to brace herself against the wall, fighting off the sudden dizziness. 

She would have to push herself along the wall to get to the basement. By god, she wasn't looking forward to the stairs. 

Allison grabbed her notepad and marker-pen from the desktop near her bed, took one last deep breath, and forced her feet forward.

One foot and then the next, push against the wall for momentum, lean against the wall for stability. That was how Allison made her way to the basement, more stumbling than walking.

“ - and we can't do that of she's _locked_ in a _cage_!” She had arrived in time to hear Diego's yelling.

A pit of dread built in her stomach. What the hell was he talking about? Who was in a cage?

Her questions were answered as she rounded the corner, though the sight of what lay before her felt more like a punch to the gut than a response.

Vanya, her sister Vanya, was trapped in a vault. She was pounding on the glass and shouting desperate pleas that couldn't reach her siblings ears.

Protective anger burst in her chest, setting her cheeks on fire and her heart pounding. Her free hand curled into a fist against the wall. Who had done this? Who had locked up her sister?

Vanya stared at her through the glass, eyes wide and mouth gaping. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were rimmed with red - she’d been crying.

Allison wanted desperately to tell her that it was _okay_ , that she wouldn't let her stay trapped.

Instead, hard as it was, she tore her eyes away to survey the scene.

Luther, Diego, and Klaus were all gaping at her- staring in shock. Diego was still posed with his shoulders squared in front of the vault door, feet and chest pointed towards Luther. So he'd been fighting with Luther? That wasn't unusual, but judging from the few words Allison had caught on her way down Diego was pissed about Vanya being locked up. So that meant…

Luther had trapped their sister.

“Allison.” Luther said, his voice a far cry from the shouting she'd heard. “What are you doing here? You should be in bed.”

How dare he? The words sent a new course of anger flowing through her veins. How could he just pick and choose which sister to be worried about.

Vanya had resumed her pounding against the glass, tear-filled eyes aimed only at Allison. She was shouting something, desperately trying to communicate to Allison through her sobs.

“I’m sorry.” Allison read on her lips.

She wanted to cry. She uncapped her pen. 

“Let her go.” Allison wrote in large blocked letters, holding up the notepad for Luther to see.

She hoped Vanya could see it too, that she knew what Allison wanted to say.

“She hurt you.” Luther argued softly.

What, did he believe she'd done that on purpose? That their baby sister had slashed Allison's throat deliberately?

Allison sighed, flipping to the next page.

“My fault.” She wrote, looking this time at Vanya as she held the pad up. 

_I forgive you._ She thought desperately, praying the thought was communicated through the two words, through the look in her eyes.

Vanya’s fist rested, unmoving, against the glass. She looked up from the pad to meet Allison's eyes, a look of desperate hope and guilt flashing across her face.

Luther opened his mouth to speak but was quickly cut off.

“That's three to one.” Diego interrupted, demonstrating by holding up three fingers on his raises right hand and one finger on his left. “Now let her go.”

“No.” Luther argued, shaking his head. “No this isn't up for debate, she stays.”

“You don't get to decide that!” Diego’s voice shook with anger.

“I'm Number One, Diego.” Luther spat as a reminder. “Dad put me in charge.”

“Well no surprise there because you're acting _just_ like him!” Klaus jabbed a finger towards him in accusation.

That threw Allison off-guard. Klaus had always been prone to dramatic outbursts, but full-blown accusations and anger weren't like him. 

Judging by the way Luther was staring, mouth open in shock, the accusation had surprised him too. Allison used the distraction to try and get past Luther, to get to the door of the vault and free her sister.

He caught her easily with an outstretched arm against her torso, stopping her in her tracks. Vanya began slamming her hands against the glass against, screaming desperately through tears though Allison couldn't hear. She tried to push past, to get to her _sister_ but Luther held firm. Her knees wobbled as another wave of dizziness struck her, and suddenly her roadblock became her support as she clutched to Luther to stay standing.

Frustration welled in her chest, spilling out of her eyes in tears as she beat against his arm in a voiceless plea. _Let me go!_ she wanted to cry.

“I'm just trying to protect you, to protect our family.” Luther pleaded.

“She _is_ our family!” Klaus cried in frustration, flinging his hands upward and pulling at his own hair.

“You're not protecting anyone by locking our sister in a cage!” Diego exclaimed.

Allison stared at Vanya, still screaming through the glass, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Diego and Klaus had her back, they all wanted Vanya out. Luther was huge,and stronger than all of them, but it was still three on one. If they tried...

But how to tell them what she was thinking? How to communicate without letting Luther in on her plan?

She snapped her eyes open, locking eyes with Diego and then Klaus. She looked very pointedly towards Klaus, then subtly jerked her head towards Luther. His eyes flickered between her and Luther, seeming unsure, but he nodded anyways. Then she looked to Diego, nodding towards the vault door. He paused, furrowing his brow before giving a determined nod. She hoped they really did understand.

Diego held up three fingers. Time seemed to stand still, her breath frozen in her chest, as he slowly lowered one finger. 

She could see Klaus squaring his shoulders, widening his stance and staring with determination at Luther's back.

Diego lowered the second finger. He turned his body towards the vault, standing on his toes in preparation to run.

Allison took a deep breath, pulling her head back slightly as she prepared for her own unpleasant task. 

Diego dropped the final finger. Allison pulled her leg back and forced her knee up hard, hitting Luther in the crotch. Luther gave a cry - a mi of shock and pain - and pulled his arm away, dropping Allison to the ground. With a shout, Klaus threw himself at Luther - jumping on the larger man's back and wrapping his wiry arms tight around his thick neck. Luther stumbled backwards in surprise, slapping at the arms around his neck.

A metallic screech hit her ears, the tell-tale sound of Diego turning the wheel to open the vault.

“Don't-” Luther choked out. He peeled Klaus’ arms off from around his neck, flinging him to the ground as easy as batting a fly. Klaus hit the ground with a cry, Luther shot him an almost concerned look before lumbering towards the vault.

Diego looked back with wide eyes, pulling on the vault door frantically - trying to get the wheel to finish turning before Luther got there. Allison heard him give a panicked, frustrated shout as they both realized Luther would get there first.

She scrambled to her feet, throwing herself forwards. Her muscles screamed from overuse so soon after her accident, but she wasn't going to let that keep her from her sister.

The one benefit Luther's frame granted them was that it made him slower. Allison got to the door before him, standing in front of Diego and spinning on her heels to face Luther. She flung her arms out protectively, a shaky barrier between Luther and her siblings as vertigo hit her once again.

“Allison,” He said firmly. “Move.”

She shook her head, hating the way her lip quivered. Hating that he’d forced her to choose between her siblings.

Klaus pulled himself up from the floor with a groan, stumbling over to stand by Allison's side. He was breathing heavily but stood beside her firmly - or, as firm as Klaus could - between Luther and the door.

“Klaus,” Luther pleaded with a tone of annoyance. “Allison, don't do this.”

“Screw you!” Klaus replied, with a jerky jab towards Luther's chest.

Luther glared. “Move.”

He towered of them, though his words before had been pleading his stance was clearly meant to intimidate. Klaus’ unstable wiry frame and Allison barely able to stand were the last line of defense against Luther's hulking form and their brother and sister. Still, they stood their ground. Allison lifted her chin in defiance. Though she couldn't speak, their message was clear.

If he wanted to keep Vanya locked up, he would have to go through them first.

The vault opened with a deafening screech and clang. Allison barely registered Klaus flinching beside her as Vanya's shaking sobs finally hit her ears. 

She spun on her heels, stumbling forwards to the vault in time to catch Vanya as she collapsed into her arms.

“Allison, Allison.” Vanya sobbed near incoherently, arms wrapped tight around Allison's torso and hands frantically grabbing her shirt as she pressed her face into Allison’s shoulder.

The weight of her sister dragged them both to their knees. The cold stone biting through Allison's pant leg and chilling her skin. She shifted her position, wrapping her arms gently around Vanya’s shaking form.

“I'm sorry!” Vanya wailed. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I’m sorry.”

 _Its okay_ Allison let out a silent sob, clutching Vanya to her more tightly. She could feel her sister’s tears soaking through the fabric of her shirt.

“I didn't mean to.” Vanya wept desperately, voice near a scream.

God Allison wanted to speak! She needed to tell Vanya it was okay, She needed to tell her she didn't blame her. 

She lifted one shaking hand to stroke Vanya's hair, hoping the silent gesture would calm her. A new series of sobs wracked Vanya's body and Allison whimpered in response, tears spilling from her eyes as she gently rocked the two of them back and forth.

Allison pulled away slightly, adjusting so she could see her sister’s face. Vanya whimpered as Allison looked down at her, drawing her hands back towards her own chest at the perceived rejection. 

Allison shook her head, bringing her hands up to hold Vanya's face. Gently she smoothed her thumb across Vanya's cheek, wiping away a tear as she felt her own slid down her face.

Vanya's lip quivered, her breath catching as she looked up at Allison. Allison tilted her sisters head down, gently pressing a kiss to her forehead. _I love you,_ she thought desperately into the gesture. _I know it wasn't your fault_

She could taste her own tears.

Vanya brought her hands back up to clutch Allison's arms, letting out a shuddering breath. 

Diego's hand came into her view, dropping softly on Vanya's shoulder. 

“Are you alright?” He asked gently. 

Vanya glanced up at him, giving a small nod in response. 

“Thank you.” She whispered hoarsely.

Diego’s mouth worked upwards in a brief small smile. He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze before removing his hand.

“She can't stay out.” Luther's harsh voice shocked Allison back to the reality of the situation. “She's a danger to us all.”

“Oh, screw you.” Klaus half-whined. “We’re all a danger to us all! Diego could kill anyone in an instant, you're...you're fucking huge, Five kills people now, and Allison can make anyone do anything she wants. Are you going to lock us all up?”

“The rest of us can control it.” Luther snapped. “And clearly she can't.”

Allison tensed. They’d gotten Vanya out, but they hadn’t convince Luther. She wasn’t sure they could fight him off if he tried to lock Vanya up again.

“What the hell's going on here?” A familiar furious voice cut through the argument.

Allison looked up to see Five standing in the entrance. He looked from her and Vanya crouched on the ground, to Luther towering over them.

“Vanya has powers.” Diego informed him, voice quiet with rage. “And _Luther_ tried to lock her in a cage.”

“What?” Five snapped. “Luther what the _hell_!” 

“She hurt Allison.” Luther explained. “She's the one who cut her throat.”

Allison reached for the notepad, frantically scribbling down the word “Accident”, she underlined it and held up the pad for Five to see.

Five looked from the page to Luther. “Allison doesn't seem to think this is necessary.”

“She's biased.” Luther sounded frustrated.

“You should be too!” Klaus stamped his foot. “Vanya's our _sister_!”

“And so’s Allison!” Luther shouted. Allison flinched as the sound echoed off the walls.

“Allison, do you think we should lock Vanya up?” Five asked, voice shaking with anger.

Allison shook her head, holding out an arm in front of Vanya as if the gesture would protect her. 

“Well there you go,” Five said coldly. “Allison doesn't seem to think it's necessary, and she's the one who got hurt.”

Luther closed his eyes, sighing in irritation, before snapping them open again.

“Vanya's powers are dangerous,” He explained. “and she doesn't know how to control them. She could kill someone.”

“Jesus, Luther!” Five exclaimed. “And you think the solution is to trap her in a vault? Are you stupid or did the old man really rub off on you?”

“W-” 

“That's four of us against one of you.” Diego interrupted Luther. “You're outvoted Luther, she stays out.”

“I'm sorry,” Luther sighed. “But I can't let you decide that, you're making a dangerous mistake.”

Allison wrapped her arms back around Vanya, pulling her sister close. She knew she couldn’t stop Luther if he tried to take Vanya away, but by God she could try. Luther took a threatening step forward, and dread tightened in Allisons chest.

“Uuugh, fine!” Klaus groaned, throwing his hands up in defeat. He turned away from Luther and kicked at the ground dejectedly. He walked past Allison and Vanya, no longer using his body to shield them.

Allison shot him a horrified look. Had he really given up on Vanya so fast? 

“Klaus.” Diego breathed in shock.

“Fine, _fine_!” Klaus repeated, stepping into the vault. “Lock her up!”

Klaus turned from inside the vault to face them, shooting Luther a determined look. “But you're gonna have to lock me up too.” 

The air left Allison's lungs in her shock. Klaus’ hand were shaking, and his eyes had already begun to dart nervously, but still he stood firm.

“I- Klaus,” Luther seemed disturbed. “No, come out of there,you're being ridiculous.”

Klaus let out an angry laugh, pointing sneakily at his own chest. “ _I’m_ being ridiculous?”

“I'm with him.” Diego announced, joining Klaus in the vault. 

“You can't be serious.” Luther sounded annoyed.

“Deadly.” Diego confirmed, nodding towards Vanya. “You want to get rid of her? Then you're going to have to get rid of us, too.”

Allison tightened her grip on Vanya, meeting Luther's eyes with defiance. _Me too_ She thought _You'll have to pry me off her if you want to lock her away._

“Well, go ahead.” Five snarled. “Since you have no problem locking your siblings away.”

“I-” Luther sighed, looking conflicted.

He looked between Klaus and Diego standing in the vault, and Allison holding tight to Vanya. She could almost see the gears turning in his head.

“Fine,” Luther conceded. “Fine, she can stay.”

“How kind of you.” Five said dryly.

“We need to talk about this later.” Luther said firmly, turning to gesture to the whole group. “And she stays in this house, where we can keep am eye on her.”

Allison nodded, stroking Vanya's hair. Without looking away from them, Luther slowly retreated from the room.

They waited with bated breath as they heard his loud footsteps echo on the stairs, slowly fading out of earshot.

Klaus let out a loud sigh and quickly stumbled out of the vault, giving his arms and head a shake as he look back with a shudder.

“Well, that was fun.” He drawled. “Let's never do that again.”

Soft footsteps alerted Allison to Five's approach. She looked up to see him carefully crouch next to her and Vanya.

“Are you alright?” He asked, his voice more gentle than she'd heard it since he dropped back into their time.

“Yeah, ‘m fine.” Vanya mumbled tiredly, probably worn out from crying.

“Come on,” Diego said, reaching down to pat her shoulder. “Let's get you set up for the night.”

Vanya nodded, reluctantly disentangling herself from Allison. An emptiness filled the space in Allison’s arms where the warmth of her sister had been.

Vanya wrapped her arms around herself. Allison couldn't tell if her sister was shaking from the cold or the shock. Klaus opened up his arms wide, and Vanya hurried into them - letting their brother wrap her in a gentle hug.

Allison placed a hand on the ground, trying to push herself to her feet.

“Can you stand?” Diego asked her.

She stared up at him, knowing she couldn't but not wanting to admit it. He sighed, a teasing smile on his face and reached down to help her up. Reluctantly, Allison draped her arm across his shoulders and let him pull her to her feet.

Klaus was at her side now, linking her arm around his shoulders and supporting the other half of her weight. He kept his free hand still stretched out towards Vanya, holding onto her arm.

“Stairs should be fun.” Diego half-joked.

The three of the slowly made their way up the stairs, Vanya hovering nervously behind them. Five seemed to make a good effort of walking up the stairs with them before apparently getting bored with their lethargic pace and teleporting away in a burst of blue light.

“There we go.” Diego groaned once they'd made it to the living room, lowering Allison onto the couch. The action must of caught Klaus off guard because he stumbled downwards with her and nearly fell on top of her before course-correcting and dropping dramatically onto the couch cushion beside her her.

“Guess you’re staying here for the night.” Five’s voice caught Allison by surprise - Klaus too judging by how he leapt to his feet as it rang out behind them. Five wasn't looking at them though, he’d been addressing Vanya. “Luther isn't going to let you leave.”

“Luther can-” Diego’s mumble was cut off by Klaus’s delighted voice. 

“Oooh you can share my room!” Klaus said excitedly, turning towards her and clapping his hands in front of his face with flair. “I mean, it is half yours since I took your bedroom. It'll be fun, like a sleepover! Do adults still do sleepovers?”

“I, I can't.” Vanya said. “I have a concert tonight. I'm first chair, I have a solo.”

“Oh shit, that's tonight?” Diego exclaimed quietly. Allison looked at him in surprise. How had he known? She'd spent the whole week with Vanya and even she hadn’t heard about it.

“Can you...” Klaus waved his hands vaguely, drawing out his words. “I don't know… reschedule? Tell them it's a family emergency.”

Vanya shook her head. “It’s my first concert as first chair.”

“Luther won't want you leaving the house…” Diego sounded unsure. “Especially unsupervised.”

“So we should definitely go, right?” Klaus stretched his arms wide towards Deigo. “I mean that's what I'm thinking, I bet that’s what you're thinking. Vanya can play and we can watch! It'll be, It'll be _fun_! Like a uh… a, a family night out! Besides, since when do you care what Luther thinks?”

“Good point.” Diego pointed approvingly towards Klaus with a grin and tilt of the head. 

“Yeah,” Five shrugged. “Now that the Apocalypse is over a concert doesn't sound to bad.”

“Have you ever been to a concert?” Klaus asked, stretching his arms behind his head and turning to face Five. “I mean, I can't imagine they had many _shows_ at your… job, and I don't think dear old dad _ever_ took us to a concert.”

Five didn't bother answering.

“So that's decided then?” Diego looked around. “I mean, I think Luther's moping upstairs so we can all just sneak Vanya out and head to the concert?”

“To supervise me or to watch?” Vanya asked hollowly.

“To _watch_.” Klaus looked at her disbelievingly. “Come on Vanya, what am I gonna do if you go all…” he made a vague gesture with his hands, mimicking an explosion. “ tell you ghost stories?”

Vanya ducked her head, a soft chuckle escaping her lips.

“You won't tell Luther, will you Allison?” Diego asked.

Allison took offence to that. Glaring at him as she grabbed uncapped her pen.

“I'm coming with you.” She wrote.

“You need to rest-” Diego started, she waved him off with her hand.

“I want to watch.” She wrote, larger this time. She jabbed at the words with her finger and a pointed look.

Vanya smiled, reading the words. She met Allison's eyes, then looked away- wiping at her eyes.

“No arguments here!” Klaus stretched both his arms up. “Lets go! Vanya probably has to change into some… whatever violinists wear, I don't know. I've never been to this kind of concert. Hey, what should _I_ wear? I mean, these pants to make my calves look _great_ but-”

“You're fine.” Vanya laughed weakly as they walked towards the door. He wasn't, Allison knew, but she also knew that he didn't own a single thing that wouldn't stick out.

“You sure?” Klaus asked, whirling to face her and walking backwards. “I can always change into my _finest_ mesh shirt.”

“No one wants to see that.” Diego called, bending down to offer Allison his arm. She took it with a smile of thanks, allowing him to help support her weight as they followed the rest of their siblings out the door.

“Diego, you're driving.” Klaus announced.

“I can drive!” Five argued.

“Hey, I just got arrested I'm not getting pulled over for letting a kid drive.” Diego replied.

“I'm 58.” Five sounded annoyed.

“58 in the body of a 13 year old, I'm driving.” Diego shut him down, opening the passenger door and letting Allison climb in before swinging himself into the driver's seat.

“Fine.” Five grumbled, teleporting into the backseat in a flash of blue.

“Could have just used the door.” Diego mumbled, starting the engine.

Vanya and Klaus clambered into the backseat, Klaus squishing himself between his two siblings while Vanya took the window seat - already staring wistfully out into the garden.

“Everyone buckled up?” Diego asked, checking the mirrors.

“Yes, _mom_.” Klaus said in a dramatic breath, though he hadn’t put on his seatbelt.

“Klaus, put on your seatbelt.” Diego sighed, putting the car into reverse.

“Fine!” Klaus sighed, and seconds later Allison heard the tell-tale click of a seatbelt buckle being put in place.

“Can we stop at my apartment first?” Vanya asked. “I need to get my stuff.”

“That was the plan.” Diego confirmed, slowly backing out of the driveway.

A light flicked on from one of the windows on the second floor. Allison saw the curtains tear open and reveal a shocked Luther, staring out at the slowly reversing car with a look of betrayal. The look turned to anger as he turned and left the window.

“Shit.” Klaus exclaimed, leaning forward and smacking Diego's shoulder in rapid repetition. “Go, go, go, go, go!”

“I'm going, I'm going!” Diego replied, checking over his shoulder as he pulled out onto the road.

Luther burst out the front door, running towards them. Diego slammed his foot on the gas, shooting the car forward with a screech.

“Ha, ha!” Klaus whooped, twisting around to flip off their brother through the back window as he chased the car in vain.

“Is that really necessary?” Five asked.

“No, but it feels good.” Klaus replied cheerfully. Allison reached back and gave his leg a gentle smack.

She felt guilty, really. Luther really did just want to protect them, even if he was going about it in all the worst ways. He would probably spend the night worrying until they came home.

She hoped he'd be reasonable once they did.

“Luther's young,” Five seemed to read her mind. “he'll grow out of this, hopefully.”

“Luther's almost thirty.” Diego replied. “He's old enough to know it's wrong to trap your sister.”

“Can we not talk about this?” Vanya cut in. “Please?”

“Yeah it's a _real_ downer.” Klaus slid down in his seat until he had a knee poking into the back of both Diego and Allison's seat.

“Klaus, sit up.” Diego ordered. “If the car crashes you'll snap your neck.”

“Then don't crash the car.” Klaus replied, but did wiggle back into a sitting position.

Allison rolled her eyes, smiling to herself. God, she had missed this. Their childhood hadn't been ideal, but she truly loved her siblings and the stupid shenanigans they would get into.

She caught Vanya's eye in the side mirror and shot her a grin. Vanya gave a shy smile in return, giving an affectionate shake of the head at their brothers.

It struck her that this was the longest they'd all, excluding Luther, been together without a huge dramatic fallout. It felt almost… odd how casually Klaus, Diego, and Vanya were throwing themselves into friendly conversation.

Diego pulled the car up in front of Vanya's apartment complex.

“Do uh,” Vanya unclipped her seatbelt. “Do you guys wanna come in? I mean, it's a bit of a mess but…”

“Yeah, sure.” Klaus swung his long legs out of the car. “I'd love to see the place.”

“And yet you never visit.” Vanya replied dryly, turning to open the door.

Klaus paused then.

“Well,” he replied, brushing away the words with a casual wave of the hand. “You never visited me either.”

Vanya hummed in response, leading them up the stairs to her apartment.

“Home sweet home.” She announced semi-sarcastically, opening the door with a creak to reveal the small, messy open-concept apartment. 

“Nice place.” Diego said, stepping inside.

“Yeah definitely better than Diego's back room.” Klaus squeezed in around him.

“Oh, uh… thanks.” Vanya said, putting her keys down on her counter. “You guys can uh, sit down? If you want. I have to get changed so…”

“We'll just wait out here then.” Five dropped onto the couch.

“Okay, uh,” Vanya scratched above her eyebrow nervously. “help yourself to anything in the fridge.”

“Will do!” Klaus half-danced around her, opening the fridge with a swing of his arm.

Vanya gave her head a little shake, smiling to herself as she slipped into her bedroom to change.

Diego remained in the doorway, he had taken out one of his knives and was turning it around as he bit his lip - staring off into space.

“They aren't going to let you take those into the concert, you know.” Allison wrote, holding up the pad to Diego with a smirk.

“Ha ha.” He said half-heartedly.

Klaus closed the fridge without taking anything out. He leaned against Vanya’s counter, looking down and fiddling with his hands.

It hit her, suddenly, why the three of them had been acting so odd.

Guilt.

Diego and Klaus felt bad for ignoring Vanya, and Vanya felt bad for hurting Allison. Diego and Klaus must be scared that Vanya hated them, and Vanya must be scared that they hated her.

They were trying to compensate for their guilt by acting close now.

God, they really were more alike than they thought. Just this week Allison had been doing the same. She’d felt guilty for being unknowingly complicit in their father's isolation of Vanya, and had been trying to make up for it by trying to fix their relationship in the present.

And maybe they could. Whether or not they were all on the same page, it seemed like her family was finally starting to realize the extent of the damage caused by Reginald's poor attempt at parenting. It seemed like they finally wanted to be a family again. Even if they didn't know how, at least the intent was there. Maybe they could heal, maybe they could be happy.

She tapped her pen on the pad, lost in thought.

“You were there for her when it counted.” She wrote, hoping Diego would know what she meant.

“Was I?” He asked quietly, probably so that Vanya couldn't hear. “I mean… if we'd just payed _any_ attention to her, we might have noticed, we could have helped. It didn't have to come to…”

“We were kids.” She gave him a meaningful look. 

“I know but…” He sighed. “But then we were adults.”

“Don't blame yourself.” She wrote, looking pointedly at Diego.

“But don't you?” He asked.

Allison paused, biting her lip. She did. She did blame herself. Maybe it was because she was a mother now, and raising her own child had made her realize just how horribly Reginald had treated them. But she knew she never would have wanted another child to isolate Claire, especially not her own sister.

The thought of Claire brought tears to her eyes and a new pain to her throat. She wanted to see her. She wanted to see her _daughter_. She wanted to hold Claire in her arms and tell her she was sorry, that she loved her. At least before even when she didn't have custody she could still _call_ her, but now she couldn't even do that. That hurt more than any injury. 

She blinked away tears, and breathed slowly - trying to expel the thoughts from her mind.

“We can't change the past.” Allison avoided the question. 

“I can!” Five chimed, leaning over the armrest to read what Allison had written. “Technically, I already did.”

“No you, you young old man, you changed the future.” Klaus said, walking over to join them. “Totally different.”

Allison rolled her eyes affectionately.

“Dad fucked us all up.” Klaus declared suddenly. Five scrambled out of the way as he dropped onto the couch, draping his legs over the armrest. “Do we really have to blame ourselves and each other for his weird shit?”

There was a pause before Five spoke. “That was weirdly profound, at least for you.”

“You haven't heard?” Klaus displayed his hands with great drama. “Sober Klaus is a philosopher.”

Diego snorted, rolling his eyes with a smile.

The click of a door had them all turn their heads to see Vanya emerge from her bedroom, now wearing a suit.

“Okay, I'm dressed.” She said. “I'll grab my stuff and we can go.”

“Good, I was getting bored.” Klaus sighed exaggeratedly.

“You guys… you don't have to come, you know?” She said nervously.

“I don't want to be the one to explain to Luther why we let our super-powered sister run off alone so soon after agreeing to keep her supervised.” Diego replied. “Do you?”

“Besides,” Klaus interrupted, getting to his feet as he swung his arm towards Diego. “I haven't heard you play since we were kids. It really… brings back memories.”

He clasped his hands over his heart with an exaggerated teary-eyed expression. He tapped his pointed finger against his chest absently before dropping his hands back down. “Horrible memories of course but you know… childhood.”

Vanya nodded, reaching to close her violin in its case. She froze.

Allison furrowed her brow, wishing she could voice her concern, before she realized why.

Vanya was holding her violin bow.

Vanya was holding the instrument she had used to slash Allison's throat.

Allison cleared the room in quick strides, placing her free hand on Vanya's shoulder. Vanya jumped at the contact, not meeting Allison's eyes. Her hands were shaking, causing the bow to shake as well. 

The cream horse-hair of the bow was splattered with dark burgundy stains. Nausea built in Allison’s throat as she realized that was her own blood decorating the instrument. 

“I thought I killed you.” Vanya said weakly, voice shaking. Her hands tightened into fists around the bow. She bowed her head, shoulders shaking as tears dropped to the floor. “I thought I killed you.”

Allison rubbed her hand on Vanya's back, turning her sister to face her. Vanya refused to meet her eyes, lip trembling as she held back sobs. Allison took one of her hands and brought it to rest over her heart - feeling the sudden cool of Vanya's always cold hand through her shirt.

 _I'm alive._ Allison thought into the gesture, tears welling in her own eyes. _It's okay._

Vanya stared down at their hands, then closed her eyes and took a breath. 

“Sorry.” She said, voice more steady. She wiped her eyes. “Sorry.”

Allison smiled weakly, feeling tears spill over her cheeks and drip to the floor. She let go of Vanya's hand and began to write.

“You don't need to keep apologizing.” She wrote. “It was an accident, I forgive you.”

Vanya didn't seem convinced, and pulled her arms around herself.

“I hate to break this up,” Five almost sounded sincere. “But don't we have a concert to get too?”

“Right!” Vanya nodded. “Right, right. I uh, I'll grab my spare bow.”

“You gonna be late?” Diego asked, leaning against the doorway. 

“No uh, well maybe to rehearsal but that's not…” Vanya was frantically gathering her things. “That's not unusual.”

They made their way to the car with a little more speed than earlier, quickly piling in as Diego pulled out onto the road.

“This is weird, isn't it.” Vanya asked after a beat of silence.

“Pray tell?” Klaus rolled his head to face her.

“I mean… all of us, together.” Vanya elaborated. “We haven't… I mean, I just almost killed Allison, and now you all want to go to my concert? It's weird.”

“This whole weeks been _weird_.” Klaus drawled. “Dad finally kicks it, Five's back and 13 but 58, assassin's attack the house, time traveling briefcases, now you have powers and Luther wants to trap you.”

What a long way to say nothing. Allison began writing.

“I think what Klaus is _trying_ to say,” Allison clarified. “is that maybe it took things getting really weird for us to want to change things.”

Five read the note outloud for Diego’s benefit, since reading while driving was a safety hazard.

“Don't put words in my mouth!” Klaus objected. “But yeah.”

“Change things?” Vanya asked.

“Yeah like maybe you won't isolate yourself or write books about all of our secrets, and we will try to be more of a family.” Diego replied. “Not… not leave you out. Like you said.”

“And maybe Diego will start wearing colour.” Klaus teased.

Diego reached back to smack whatever part of Klaus he could reach without taking his eyes off the road, which happened to be his bare foot. 

Allison hadn't noticed that he wasn't wearing shoes. 

“Jesus!” Diego exclaimed. “And maybe Klaus will start wearing shoes?”

“Nope!” Klaus replied cheerfully, wiggling his toes. “Klaus is going sober! For real this time.”

Allison raised her eyebrows, impressed. It was an unexpected change. Klaus had declared his sobriety many times, but it was usually after being forced into rehab and while he was actively ending his sobriety.

“You are?” Diego asked, at the same time that Vanya exclaimed a “Seriously?”

“Sure am!” Klaus said. “I've been sober almost two whole days now, and let me tell you… I felt _so_ sick just all of yesterday, like there were ants in my stomach and my whole body was just hot and gross, but i took a nap earlier and now I feel _great_!”

“Cold turkey?” Allison asked through the notepad.

“Yup! Just flushed everything straight down the toilet!” Klaus declared.

“That's not…” Diego frowned. “I mean, good on you but there's gotta be a better way to do that.”

“Psh,” Klaus waved him off. 

“Well,” Vanya said after a pause. “If you ever need anything…”

“Other than drugs?” Klaus asked with a grin. She punched him in the shoulder.

Allison tapped his leg with her pen.

“I'm proud of you.” The notepad read.

“Aww,” he clasped his hands to his heart, looking insincerely touched. “thanks sis.”

He never could be serious, could he? She turned back to sit in her seat properly with a smile and shake of her head.

“We're here.”Diego announced, pulling into a parking space. “Shit uh, anyone got change for the meter?”

All eyes turned to her. That was fair, she was probably the only one out of the five with real money. 

“Leave the knives in the car.” She wrote to Diego, unbuckling her seatbelt and opening her door.

She paid the meter, shivering a little in the cold night air.

“You aren't actually going to walk around with no shoes on, are you?” Diego asked Klaus. “That's dangerous.”

Klaus shrugged with a grin. “Left my boots at the house.”

“You want a piggyback ?” Vanya asked sarcastically.

“That would be fun…” He replied wistfully. She chuckled in response.

Once they'd made it to the entrance of the auditorium, a realization seemed to hit Diego.

“Ah shit.” He groaned. “Tickets.”

Shit, he was right. They didn't have tickets, and according to the posters plastered on the door they cost 25$ dollars each… if there were any left.

“Oh.” Klaus deflated. “Right.”

“Don't worry,” Vanya said, opening the door for them. “I reserved tickets for all of you.”

“You did?” Five asked.

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “I uh… I was gonna invite you to come. That's why I was at the house before…”

Before she realized they were leaving her out again, before Allison had tried to warn her about Harold, before nearly killing Allison and being locked up by their brother.

“Well that's lucky.” Diego thankfully interrupted the moment, giving Vanya’s shoulder and affectionate bump. “Maybe you'll actually get to invite us next time.”

Thank God for Diego. Allison felt a weight lift off her chest as Vanya's face lit up shyly. 

“They're uh, they're reserved under my name.” Vanya explained quickly, calling over her shoulder as she started to half jog backwards into the auditorium. “The ticket box doesn't open for another forty minutes, but I've gotta run. Thanks for the lift!”

Allison gave Vanya a quick wave as her sister quickly ran to her rehearsal. 

As the sound of Vanya disappeared along with the sound of her footsteps, the remaining Hargreeves siblings fell into silence. Allison sat on one of the benches in the lobby, Klaus sitting beside her with one leg up and the other swinging back and forth while Five elected to stand as Diego leaned against the wall.

“So,” Klaus picked at the knee of his pants. “forty minutes, huh?”

Yup, Allison nodded.

“That's so _loooong_.” He groaned. “I'm already bored!”

“I think Vanya causes the apocalypse.” Five said suddenly.

 _What?_ Allison turned to him with wide eyes.

“What?” Diego voiced the sentiment. “Five, that's our _sister_!”

“I know, I know.” Five sighed. “Just listen, okay?”

Allison raised her eyebrows expectantly. He better have a good explanation.

“Harold Jenkins clearly hated us. I don't know why, but he did. So there's the motivation.” Five started. “But how could he end the world? He had no way to cause that much destruction and his issue wasn't with the world, it was with us. Clearly he wanted revenge for… something.”

“Go on.” Diego said, arms crossed tight across his chest.

“Harold doesn't have the ability to cause that much destruction… but Vanya does.” Five elaborated. “Vanya grew up with us, and has this catastrophic ability that she doesn't even know about, and he just _happens_ to run into her mere _days_ before the apocalypse?”

He had been using Vanya, that much Allison knew. 

“You think he was using her,” she wrote “and that something went wrong?”

“Exactly.” Five said

Allison did remember Vanya saying Leonard kept telling her she was special. If he really had been planning his revenge so thoroughly… he must have done his research on the whole family. Vanya's book had made her inferiority complex abundantly clear, if he'd read it then it would have been easy for him to exploit that particular weakness.

The bastard. She was glad he was dead.

“The only question is how he knew…” Five added.

“Oh shiiit.” Klaus whined.

“What?” Diego asked.

“Pogo said those books were priceless…” Klaus rubbed his hands over his face.

Allison tilted her head. This outburst seemed unrelated, but if it was a response to what Five had been wondering...

“Explain. Now.” Five said through gritted teeth.

“Fine.” Klaus pouted. “So I kiiinda stole this really expensive fancy looking box from dad's office, I wanted to pawn it you know? Get some money for drugs, get the little ghosties to go away.”

“Go on.” Five sounded pissed, like he knew where this was going. Allison was pretty sure she did too, but hoped they were both wrong.

“Well, anyways… it had some fancy looking books, dad's journals I think? But you can't really get much for those so I just threw them in the dumpster.” He covered his face with his hands. “When I went back to try and find them they were gone.”

“Harold must have found the journals, damn it Klaus!” Five exclaimed as Allison gave Klaus’ knee a smack. “You could have gotten us all killed.”

“I know, I'm sorry.” Klaus whined, flinging out his hands.“How was I supposed to know the old man was keeping world ending secrets in that box?”

“Because it's Dad.” Diego said. “That's what he does.”

“Did.” Allison wrote.

“Right, thank you Allison, that's what Dad _did_.” Diego corrected.

“I'm sorry.” Klaus pressed his hands against his face.

“Nothing we can do about it now.” Allison wrote

Diego sighed. “So why are you telling us this now, Five?”

“The day is still young.” Five said, even though it really wasn't. The sun had long since set and night was as dark as ever. “There’s a chance the Apocalypse may still happen.”

“What?” Klaus dropped his fists into his lap. “Why? That's crazy, Vanya doesn't want to end the world.”

“No but the commission does.” Five replied. “And Vanya doesn't have control yet.”

“Wait, So are you using her as bait?” Diego exclaimed. “That's cold, Five.”

Allison stomach dropped. Five wouldn't… from what she'd seen the commision were way to dangerous for any of them, he wouldn't just let them get to Vanya.

“If I'm right they'll come for her either way.” Five said. “At least this way we’ll be with her. Besides, if I'm right they won't attack her, they'll be trying to protect her.”

“From who?” Allison wrote.

“Us.”

“Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah,” Klaus shook his head, hands up and facing them in front of his face. “Slow down, slow down. We're … we're not attacking our _sister_.”

“Of course not.” Five sounded annoyed by the accusation. “But if I’m right they might try to… to trigger the apocalypse themselves.”

“So we need to be there to stop them.” Diego connected the dots. “Still… I don’t like this plan, is there any way we can take the fight to them?”

“Not unless you can get in touch with the new Handler and convince them to let you into the Commision, no.” Five sighed. 

“Well, what- what are the chances that they even are… you know, gonna do this or whatever?” Klaus asked.

“Pretty high.” Five admitted. “It’s their entire purpose to keep the timeline on track, they’ll want the world to end before the day is done.”

Allison sighed, dropping her head into her hands. So much for a nice family trip. She hoped Five was wrong, but unfortunately he knew the Commision better than any of them so that wasn’t likely.

“So what do we do?” She wrote.

“All we can do is get our tickets and wait.” He said.

It definitely wasn’t the academy’s best plan. But Five was right, there really wasn’t anything else they could do but wait. 

It was a grim thought, and as the ticket-box opened not a word passed between them as they collected their tickets and filed into their seats. With the curtains not yet drawn, Allison sat with her brothers waiting for the concert to begin and the world to end. 

**Author's Note:**

> Any and all feedback is appreciated! Hated it? Loved it? Just kind of "eh" about it? Let me know!


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